Fire-escape apparatus



1" 1616924 Feb. 8 7 J EB 2 Firm ESCAPE APPARATUS Filed July 1925 All?! 5" INVENTOR /9 fa/M 97252 "ATTORNEY Patented Feb. 8, 1927. I

HN. Ma s 7 I W W 'I WY f :jIBE-ESCAPE rename I Applicationi'filed Jiily so, 925. Seria1 No.:-"46,940.

without any other effort on his part than grasping a .rope or cord firmly and releas= 111g a -brake'f" To this end one feature of the inventionis the provision of means t-for -exert1nga frictional-drag or retarding 'ac-- '5 tion on the rope as the weight of the person 7 within the controlof theuser'of the-appacauses it to descend With-him,,thereby letting; him down' safely and yet suiiiciently fast. Another 'featurefof the invention' is the provision ofa'n improved brake means ratus whereby the speed of hisdesc'ent may be still further regulated." The brake-means also acts -to;hold the rope stationary, so that the person who is to use the apparatus may-impose his whole, weight on the rope before it starts to-descend by his releasing the brakeftThus the descent of therope and the speed of degoent are entirely under the control of the person using thei'appa ratus.- -The invention is more fully" described hereinafter and is particularly pointed out in the N appended claims.

Thepreferredform of the invention is.

illustrated in the accompanying drawing, in

which:

Fig. 1 is a side elevation, partly. broken of theimproved fire escape appa-' away, ratus;

Fig. 1;

33 of Fig. 1;

' I Fig. 4 is'an enlargedsection taken along the line 4-4 of Fig. 3, looking in the direc- 'tion of the arrows, and

Fig. 5 is a section taken along'the line 55of Fig. 1. f a .7

The improved fire escapeapparatus as illustrated in the drawings comprises an endless rope or cord 6 in the form of an elongated loop long enough to reach from the room in which the apparatus is located to the ground or pther landing place.

f iIn-order the rope 6 may descend lunder the weight ofathe personwho grasps it :until tl1e.=per.'- v son has fully placed. himself fin readiness;

Fig. 2 is a plan of the parts shown in Fig. 8.is a section taken alongv the line.

the upper end the loop the r-ope passes through and gis slidably supported in=-an inverted U-shaped tube'7 the middle'section of whichis loopeduponits'elf once-to form a slnglespiral -8 whichexerts a fr ctional drag. or retarding actlon on the T013638 the 9"or 1O to descend. v In I this connection it will be understood thatthe apparatus is so constructed that the person usingyit may grasp and cling to either section 'or' 10 in both directions of travel of the: rope to prevent-a too rapid descent. i The apparatus as a whole lna'y "be'sus fi g flh person 'causeseither section 1 i of the p he spiral sections fith rope supporting tube 7 functioning theisa'me pended-by means of a hook 12 to a support Y located conveniently to the window or otherppening from which the escape isto jecting sides of which embrace the upwardly extending-legs -15 of a-i'clamp 16. It is thus seenthatthe swivel connection between the 'T hook l2 and theme'mber? 14, and the pivotal connection between themenr bi'eriv .14 andthelges -15 of the clamp 16, serveas a universal mounting for the'fire esca pe apparatus. The clamp 16 serves to hold together; the adj a cent upper sectienslS and'19 of the-spiral 1oop8.. that neither section 9 or 10 of for descent, I provide a brake device, gen

'er'ally indicated at 20, the operation of which is. conveniently controlled by the user of the apparatus by'm'eans of the cord 21.

The brake device 20 comprises two cylindrical brake members or plungers 22 and 24:

which are slidingly 'receivedin the hub-like q bosses 25 extending inwardly from the collars 26 which embrace the downwardly projecting sections 27 of the tube 7.7 The collars 26 are preferably held together by the cross-piece 28. The outer end of each plunger 22 and 24 is grooved vertically in conformity with the cylindrical shape of the rope 6 so as to have a proper braking engagement therewith. The plungers are forced into en gagement with the sections 9 and 10 of the rope 6 and disengaged therefrom by means of the lever 30 to the outer end cord is attached,

1. o which t e 75 i be-effected. "The hook"12 is swivelly cons 1 nected at its lower end with the inverted i U-shaped member 1:4, the downwardly n-pro-iios V mounted on a stud 31 fixed in the crosspiece 28. The inner end or head ofrthe lever is provided with the laterally extending arms 32 and 33 which are pivotally connected by the links 34: with the inner ends of the plungers 22 and 241, respec tively. A contractile spring 85, one end of Which is attached to the lever 30 and the otherend of which is. attached to the tube 7 serves" to turn thel-ever in a ,counter'clock? Wisedirection and-thereby force the plungers 22 and 24' into braking engagement with the sections 9 and 100']? the rope. (The pressure with. Which the spring 35 forces the plungers 22 and24 against the. rope may be regulated .by shiftingthe lower end of the spring" from one toanother of the holes 36 in the lever '30.

The- .iinproved fire escapejapparatus as described above may be kept in readiness 1n a I'convenient place in any preferred manner;

When it is desired-to use the apparatus the hook'12 is. inserted in the eye or hook pro vided .for that purpose and the sections 9 and 10 of the rope 6 are let down out of the'window or other opening. The person using the apparatusthen grasps either of the sections 9 andlO and entrusts his Weight fully thereto after which he may pull down on the cord 2land release the brake 20.

' Thereupon the .weight of the person causes I the rope 6 to travel through the. tube 7, the

" which the person is clinging to cause the descent to be madesafely. If the person finds. that the descent istoo rapid for his comfort he may ease up on the cord 21 slightly, thereby permitting the plungers 22 and 24 to move into a light braking engagement with the rope. qVVhen the person first entrusts himself to the apparatus it is desii'able that he tal te thecord in his hand before grasping either section 9 or 1'0 of the rope so W as not to release the section of the rope to vi/"hichhe is clinging when he pullsdown on the cord 21. h p \Vhat 'I'claim] asmy invention and desire to secureby Letters Patent, is:

1. A fire escape apparatus comprising, a rope, a tube havinga spiral secjtionin which the rope is supported with a frictionaldrag, and a brake device. for normally holding the rope against. movement, consisting of a plunger slidingly mounted to move into and out of engagement with the rope, a lever for actuating the plunger, a spring connected with the lever for normally holding; the plunger against the rope, and a cord; by

which the user of the apparatus mayoperate the lever to disengage the plunger from the-rope, a v. 2. A. firee'scape apparatus comprising, an

endless rope, an inverted ,Ushaped tubein whichthe rope is slidingly supported, the

middlev section, of said tube being looped uponitselt to form a spiral to 'exert a frict-ional drag upon the rope as it. moves through the tube, a collar mounted on each downturned leg of the tub e, a cross-piece connecting the two collars, anda brake device comprising. two' plungers slidingly mounted ingthe inner sides ofthe collars, a lever pivotally mounted on the cross-piece, connections between theilever a'nd-theplung ers, a spring connected with the lever, for holding the plungers in braking engagement with therope, and a cord connected with the lever and arranged to be under the control of theuser of the apparatus to operate the brake to disengage the plungersfrom the rope, r h In testimony whereof I hereunto aifix my signature. I 

